Chapter 16 Summary

The King's Justice comes for Nicolas, bringing a saddled mule for him to ride. Accompanying him are twelve hooded, armed men. They ride out to the graveyard and dig up Thomas Wells' coffin. As the men open the coffin, Nicolas notices the smell of plague again. The Justice calls Nicolas forward. He sees the face of Thomas Wells and describes it as "lost in death. The boy's face, he says, appears less real then Springer's face when he acts out the part of Wells' effigy that the players made as a prop. The men examine the boy's body and find signs of sodomy. They note that the body had either not been cleaned at all or had been cleaned too quickly, as there are still traces of blood. They see the characteristic sign of the plague on the boy's body, a black swelling...